The Little Doll of Doom
by Gustauve-Drakenhime
Summary: Lifting the doll from her bosom, she whispered, "My entire life revolved around you, and you didn't even know to care; and I don't know why that hurts me so much, but it does." *Warning: This story uses proper English and complex sentence structuring: Read at your own risk!* Update: Third Chapter is up. Fourth one will have to wait for a time. Still no idea on the new title.
1. The Doll

… _Let's see; where to begin? Okay, it's a little known fact that my fiancé and I used to each other's guts. Grant it, we regarded each other as friends – we just couldn't stand the sight of each other. The long of the short of it is that, when she and I were young, she ratted me out, and from that day forward we held a deep seeded animosity towards one another, interspersed with random bouts of friendliness. For the next nine years, the hatred we held towards one another gradually developed into sxual tension, until it finally exploded against a locker in the middle of the sekundärschule hallway. Two years later, we became engaged… It was on one of our dates; I think it was number 27 or something like that – that she said – and I quote – "Did you know that I have a plush doll of you?" Apparently, she'd made it when she was 14! Aside from being a little perturbed by the fact that for four years my fiancé had slept with a plush facsimile of me every night, I have to say that it was a bit of a turn on… Ahem, anyways; what does this have to do with anything? Well, it has a lot to do with why I like this pairing so much; for the longest time, Rebbecca and I's relationship was eerily similar to Zim and Tak's relationship. So it's reasonable to make the case that, if Rebbecca and I could go from to love, then why not Zim and Tak?_

_And so, without further delay, I present to you for your viewing pleasure…_

**The Little Doll of Doom**

* * *

Space… cold, dark, vast, and utterly empty space. It had been, what – days, weeks, months, years? She didn't know – she didn't care; all she cared about – all she could think about was _him_. She couldn't believe how the events of that day transpired! She had planned everything _perfectly_! She'd spent the last _fifty years_ of her _life_ preparing for that day – and she _still _lost to _him_! With a snarl of frustration, Tak slammed her fist against the console of her escape pod. Narrowing her violet eyes, she hissed out the name of the being she so utterly despised with all of her being, "_Zim_." She still wasn't completely sure how it had happened, really.

After all, how could she lose to _Zim_ – the biggest idiot of the entire universe! The same Zim who had nearly destroyed their entire civilization – not once, but _twice_! The same Zim who destroyed everything he touched; for tallest sake – he personally brought about the demise of _two_ tallest, _thousands_ of his own kind, and – if rumor served correctly – the destruction of a whole planet! And to top it all off, he not only shut down the power grid for half the planet of Devastis, but he personally _ruined her life_ as well! He was _short_, a _defect_; a menace to all sentient life! And _She_! She was _taller_ than him, she was _smarter_ than him, she was _better _than him; and she still lost to him! How? Why? Unable to contain her anger, she threw herself screaming against the walls of the pod! She continued to do this for several minutes until finally she simply gave up and slid to the floor.

She didn't know how long she sat like that, she probably wouldn't have cared anyhow… she would have most likely stayed like that longer had she not noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Turning slowly, it took her a few minutes to register what she was looking at. It was a doll – a plush doll. But it wasn't just _any_ plush doll; _no_, it was her Zim doll, the one she had made in her _home ekonomiks class_ when she had been posing as a human child at _skool_, back on Earth! She had read in an Earth text that one could harm any living being simply by creating a doll of them. Several of the pins she had jammed into the Zim doll's torso were still there.

"_You_," she hissed, "this is _your_ fault!" quickly crawling towards the doll, she seized it with both her hands and pinned it to the wall. "Everything is _your_ fault; you've ruined everything!" at this point, it might be safe to assume that after such a long time of drifting alone in the vast empty void of space, She may have lost just a _little bit_ of her touch with reality. Yanking the doll towards her face, she growled, "I _hate_ you!" she began to repeatedly slam 'Zim' into the wall, repeating herself over and over, "I _hate _you – I _hate _you – I _hate_ you!" Tears of hysteria began to well from her eyes as she continued, "Because of _you_, I'll never be an invader!" throwing him to the floor, she proceeded to stomp on him, truly believing that it was Zim she was pummeling and not a doll.

"Because of _you_, all of my hopes and dreams are ruined! Picking the doll back up, she began to throttle it with all of her might as she yelled, "I'll never get to prove my worth to the empire; never get the praise I deserve!" With unbridled fury, she sunk her jagged teeth into his arm, and with a yank of her head, ripped it clean off! Spitting out a clump of stuffing, she continued to shout, "I'll never get to see how far I could go; what I was capable of – and it's your_ fault_!"Pulling her fist back, she punched the doll so hard in the face that one of its button eyes broke loose! "You just _had_ to ruin my life, _didn't you_?" she hissed, "You just _had_ to have that snack, _didn't you_?" Grabbing the doll by the leg, she began to slam it against the control panel, unintentionally shutting off the artificial gravity. Releasing the doll in surprise, she quickly recovered and dived at it, pinning it against the ceiling.

"You just _had _to _ignore_ my cries for _help_," tears once more sprang from her eyes, and with a shuddery breath, she continued, "you never even _bothered_ to look back, _did you_?" A quick and violent sob escaped her, "You didn't bother to _notice me_; you were _right there_ and you did _nothing_ – you ignored me; _forgot_ me!" Pulling the doll back to her face they began to free float amongst the debris inside the ship as she hissed, "_I_ never forgot _you_ – I _couldn't _forget _you_!" Drawing her hand back, she began to slap the doll, unable to contain the sobs that wracked her body, she continued, "You were always _there_; everywhere I _looked_, I saw _you_!" Her breath hitched as she went on, "You were in my dreams, you were in my nightmares – you were in my _thoughts_, Zim!" The slapping had ceased, but she still held the doll in an iron grip.

"I couldn't go a _day_ without thinking about you, Zim; you haunted me everywhere I went!" looking the doll straight in the face, she cried, "For _fifty years_ you plagued my thoughts – and for _fifty years_ I searched every corner of the galaxy to find you; do you know how many _planets _I had to search, just to _find _you?" Lifting a hand, she gently ran it down the side of the doll's face, "And then, after fifty long, horrible, _lonely_ years of looking for you, I find you, and you don't even _recognize me_?" A feeling she couldn't describe began to rise in her squeedilyspooch, as she went on, "I spent my _entire life_ searching for you, and you didn't even know who I was; do you know how that made me _feel_?" She couldn't help it – she began to sob uncontrollably as she clutched the doll to her chest.

"It _hurt_, Zim; It hurt me more than anything had ever hurt me before." Lifting the doll from her bosom, she whispered, "My entire life revolved around you, and you didn't even know to care; and I don't know why that hurts me so much, but it does." Looking down at the doll, she gave a sorrow filled frown at the damage she inflicted, "_Oh_, look at you," she moaned; "now I'm going to have to sew you back together." Quickly looking around, she spotted the arm, and – with a needle and thread from her Pak, quickly sewed it back on. Unable to find the button for his eye, she ripped one off of her of her own suit and with deft precision; she quickly sewed it into place. "There you are," she exclaimed with a morose smile, "good as new." Slowly floating to the control panel, she reactivated the artificial gravity.

Still clutching the doll tightly to her body, she again took a seat at the command console and resorted to once more staring out the window into space. The quite humming of the machinery was the only noise to be heard, punctuated every so often by the beeping of the various life support systems. She stayed like that for a long time, how long was anyone's guess; it could have been hours, it could have been weeks – simply staring and thinking. Not once had she let go of the doll – it hadn't even crossed her mind. No, in fact, the longer she sat there thinking, the tighter she held onto the doll. The silence continued for a long time until a sigh escaped from her lips. Looking down at the doll, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"And you know what the worst part is?" she laughed bitterly, "The worst part is that you've probably already forgotten about me." A tear slid down her face as she choked out, "And who knows, maybe you haven't but you just _don't care_." A whimper escaped her as she subconsciously began to pet the doll's face. Releasing a shuddery breath, she bit her lip and closed her eyes, willing herself to stop crying; it was so unbecoming. "Curse you Zim," She growled, "I swear I'll be back for you, if it's the last thing I do." Raising the doll to her eye-level, she hissed, "And when I do, I'll… I'll…" a moment of hesitance crossed her face, "I'll… do… something…" Staring at the pins stuck in the doll's torso, she began to feel that strange _feeling_ again, the one she couldn't identify.

With meticulous care she began to remove the pins, one by one, not completely understanding _why_ she felt the need to do so. Glaring at the doll in a defensive manner she exclaimed, "It doesn't very well make much sense to waste something as useful as a _pin_ on something as –" at this her voice faltered, "– something as _useless_ as _you_." When the last of the pins was removed, she looked the doll once over, and with a heavy sigh she squeezed it in her hands, saying, "It has _nothing_ to do with how I feel about… about…" Something in the back of her mind began to stir, but as soon as the thought came to her, she just as quickly shut it out with a vicious snarl. Clutching at her chest, willing the tumultuous churning of her squeedilyspooch to stop, she cried out, "What've you done to me, Zim?"

She wanted to throw up, she wanted to _scream_! She wanted to laugh, to cry; to hurt him – to hold him! She despised him, but she wanted more than anything to be _near_ him! She wanted to be the one who destroyed him, but just as much, she wanted to be the one who would bring him back up! She wanted his respect and recognition – she wanted for him to acknowledge her as the superior being! She wanted to break his little arms and legs, just so she could put them back together again! She wanted to bite him – to make him bleed – to make him whimper out _her_ name; to make him _beg_ her – to beg _for_ her! She wanted to haunt his every waking moment, just as he had done to her – she wanted him to feel everything he made her feel! With a cry of anguish, she screamed, "Why do you make me _feel_ this way, Zim?"

Curling into a ball, she wept bitterly, all the while never letting go of the doll that represented her obsession. That's what it was, she realized, it was an obsession; she was _obsessed_ with _Zim_! Time passed, and eventually she took control of her emotions. That was another startling revelation to her – she had _emotions_. Did that mean she was a _defective_? Like Zim? What else did she and Zim hold in common? She didn't even want to begin down that road. As she contemplated these things, she failed to notice the proximity alarm going off in the pod – a meteor was headed on a direct collision course with _her_! The impact was violent and sudden, causing the pod to spin out of control! Thoroughly unprepared for the vicious blow, her head struck the console and she knew no more…

She didn't know how long she had been out, but when she came to, the first thing she noticed was the doll she held close to her. The memory of what had transpired before the collision came rushing back to her, and for several minutes, she simply lay there – processing her thoughts and memories. It was then that she noticed the constant beeping emanating from the control panel. Rising unsteadily to her feet, she stumbled towards the dash and pressed a button, bringing up the navigation chart on the screen. And there in the middle of the screen stood a familiar planet – Earth! With a gasp, she fell back into her seat. If this was earth, then that meant only one thing to her! With anticipation in her voice, she proclaimed, "I'm coming for you, _Zim_." As the pod began to enter Earth's atmosphere, a ghost of a smile appeared on her face.

* * *

_And there it is my friends. I hope you enjoyed it, because I know I sure did. I just want to say that this story would not have been made had it not been for the insight of my wonderful fiancé Rebbecca, who gave me the inspiration for this story, and many other things in my life as well. I 'm making this a one-shot, but with enough feedback, I might be convinced to come out with a sequel. So, if you want to see more, you'll have to ask me. Thanks for reading, and God bless and keep every one of you._


	2. Contact

_My goodness, it has been a while, hasn't it? I dare say I must apologize for having waited some three years to actually make any headway in this. To that end, I would like to extend my thanks to those of you who left a review, as well as the surprising amount of those people who actually sent me various private messages throughout the years, asking me to please continue this. I will not lie to you, I am not a punctual person in regards to a deadline; I have a job, my fiance and I are now married, and with as large a family as I have, something is always coming up. But on the bright side, I did manage to make a new chapter like you all wanted, so in a way, I feel vindicated... Even if I'm not entirely sure why._

_As for this chapter, I figured I'd give you all a little background on it. This is the seventh iteration of the follow up to the story, 'The Little Doll of Doom', and it is completely different from what I had originally intended. The biggest reason for it going in the direction it's in right now is mainly due to the obsessive amount of time I spent watching Invader Zim. I had originally wanted to figure out how to portray the personalities of the various characters in the show, but as time went on, I realized that my story had them so out of character that is was no longer conscionable to try and post it. So I'd scrap the story and try a new angle. As I've said before, this is the seventh result, and the one of which I am most well pleased with._

_However, in the end, it is not about whether or not I like how the story turned out. It has been, and always will be, about whether or not you, the reader, like it. And so, without further delay, I finally present to you the second chapter of 'The Little Doll of Doom'. Or as I have always titled it, 'The Follow-up of Doom'. _

_Enjoy.  
_

* * *

… "And I found's me a friend there too, see?" Squealed GIR, who proceeded to pull out some… thing from his chest compartment; the… whatever it was, seemed catatonic in the little SIR unit's hands, as he flailed it around in front of Zim's face. "Gah - GIR, get that thing away from me!" screamed Zim, who proceeded to snatch the indescribable creature from the insane robot's hands and toss it as hard as he could in some random direction. The resulting explosion went unnoticed by the two as they continued on with their mission to… to…

"Wait a minute," exclaimed Zim, "what was I gonna do again?" An awkward silence ensued around the two – well, it wasn't exactly a silence so to speak, as it was punctuated by GIR's inane babblings and the occasional grunt of extreme concentration put forth by Zim. Three minutes later, and Zim had yet to remember what it was that he was supposed to be doing. With a cry of frustration, he stamped his foot down and yelled "Oh, for crying out loud – why can't I remember!?" He then proceeded to swipe at the air in an attempt to coax the answer out of hiding. When that didn't work, he started banging his head against the side of the tenement building that he and GIR were standing in front of, only to draw the attention of many an onlooker from the streets. "Hey, buddy," a random citizen yelled, "are you alright?"

Realizing that what he was doing was drawing attention, and must therefore not be considered 'normal' by human standards, he immediately stopped pummeling himself and, regaining his composure by putting forth his '_normal_' face, cried out "Of _course_ I'm okay – why _wouldn't_ I be okay; do I _look_ like I'm not okay?" Eyes nervously darting back and forth, he began to sweat profusely as more and more people began to stare at him. However, he had an ace up his sleeve, a sure fire way to not only avoid suspicion, but to further blend in with the humans as well; quickly grabbing GIR into a tight hug, and giving a strained smile, he exclaimed "I'm normal!"

This seemed to do the trick, because the surrounding humans seemed to merely shrug and carry on with whatever it was that humans did. While Zim silently congratulated himself on a potential crisis being averted by his amazing intellect, GIR was assaulted by an eerie moment of comprehension, to which he exclaimed, "Weren't we s'posed to be going to Dib's house so we could throw a monkey in his room?" and just as quickly as it came, the moment of clarity passed, as GIR proceeded to pick up a rat from seemingly nowhere and eat it. Disregarding the rather unusual phenomenon, Zim responded, "Yes, you're probably right - we should just head back to the base and - but wait, we were supposed to be going to the Dib's house to throw a monkey at his obscenely large head!" Having finished devouring the rat, GIR looked up to his master with a blank expression and replied "Oh yeah," then he giggled, "I got a Monkey in me!" And indeed he did – the monkey in question was stuffed in GIR's chest, clearly enraged and frothing at the mouth; its muffled cries of fury going unnoticed by either of the two.

And so it was that the two of them continued on towards the Dib's house, all the while unaware of what was occurring in the Earth's outer atmosphere. Because if they had been aware of what was going on above them, you'd be pretty sure that Dib and monkeys would be the last thing on their minds… well, maybe; it's debatable.

Meanwhile, at the home of world renowned scientist Professor Membrane (and his roommates/children), a young boy with an outrageously large cranium was currently walking out of the front door whilst toting a rather obscene amount of Kosher hotdogs in a plastic trash bag behind him. Halting at the front step, he turned his freakishly large head over his shoulder and shouted, "I'm going out for a bit; I wanna try and see if I can finally catch that pack of ravenous Gerbil-squids in action – don't wait up!" almost immediately, the surly voice of his sister rang forth from the house with a resounding "Be quiet!" Almost as suddenly, but not nearly as brusquely, came the baritone voice of his father. "Son, there are no such things as Gerbil-squids or Vampire Weasels, but have fun anyways – and make sure to be back home by eleven!" Nodding his ascent, Dib exclaimed, "Okay, thanks Dad – see you later!" On his way down the remaining steps, he failed to hear his father lament, "…My poor, insane son."

Needless to say, Dib was feeling extremely positive today; he had been actively tracking any and all instances of Gerbil-squid activity within an 8 kilometer radius, and he had hit up on a significant lead the other day. Apparently, Gerbil-squids found the scent of Kosher hotdogs to be irresistible (at least that's what the website he found it on claimed), and as it happened, his father bought Kosher hotdogs in bulk. '_Though, come to think of it_,' he thought, '_Dad also buys those_ Kann-o-Beans _brand canned beans in bulk as well_.' That was a rather disturbing thought, though for whatever reason, Dib couldn't be sure as to why. "_Weird_…" quickly shaking such a strange tangent out of his mind, he proceeded forth with renewed vigor. "Alright!" he exclaimed, "This is it - I'm finally going to get hard evidence that Gerbil-squids exist and - hey, what's that?" His train of thought was interrupted by a flashing red glow emanating from his family's garage, and if he could recall correctly, that wasn't a normal occurrence.

Slowly, and with great apprehension, he crept towards the entrance, all the while wondering what would await him there. '_What if it's the Gerbil-squids; what if they learned ahead of time that I'd be trying to expose them, and now they plan to get rid of me_?' This thought halted him for a mere fraction of a second before he shook his big head to clear his mind, '_Was it just me, or was that crazy, even for me? Wait! No! I'm not crazy – gah_!' Deciding then and there to stop overanalyzing things that he didn't really want to know about, he dropped the sack of franks and quickly leapt through the entryway, making sure to do a quick barrel roll for good measure, and wound up crashing into a pile of assorted grease cans. The pile collapsed on him, and the resulting clatter even managed to startle their neighbors' cat. "Ugh, my head," he moaned, "why do we even _have_ this many cans in our-" the sight that awaited him forced a gasp from his lips.

There, in the center of the garage, sat the ship he '_borrowed_' after it had crash landed in his back yard, following the whole Tak incident. He hadn't even thought about it since last Christmas, when Zim had attempted to dupe the entire planet into thinking he was Santa Claus for some insidious purpose that escaped him at the moment, because he was now focusing his attention to what was going on in the ship. Even through the tarp covering most of it, the thrumming glow of red incandescence shone brightly, blinking in and out of existence, bathing the interior of the room with tones of crimson and darkness. It was really quite creepy when he considered it all. However, a growing sense of foreboding did not take long to well up inside of him, and thus he quickly yanked the dusty tarp off of the ship, and proceeded to open the bubbled canopy of the cockpit.

What met him was a small dashboard screen with a string of Irken text scrawled across it. With the little Irken that he knew, all that Dib could roughly decipher was that the atmospheric proximity warning had been triggered, along with a rough set of coordinates that he immediately recognized as belonging to a particular cul-de-sac where a certain green-skinned alien menace lived! "Zim!" of course this had something to do with Zim, everything always did. "I've got to stop him – the fate of the Earth, and of all Mankind depends on me!" And so, with a new objective in mind, the self-appointed savior of humanity dashed towards the home of his arch-nemesis – intent upon stopping whatever dastardly plot the alien had cooked up to take over the Earth this time.

As it happened, said alien menace was making his way towards the Dib's house from the opposite direction, dead set on sewing simian chaos. Had it not been for GIR's insistence upon grabbing a chocolate Suck-Monkey on the way over, they might have actually made it in time to catch the Earth boy's monologue. Sadly, GIR just had to have that '_sweet, Suck-Monkey goodness_', and no amount of yelling or begging on Zim's part did anything to dissuade the little simpleton. Still, there was no long-term damage to be had, and the Dib would undoubtedly be in his room doing whatever it was that he does. '_Most likely coming up with a plan to ruin the Amazing Zim's plans to conquer this wretched ball of FILTH_!' he thought. Then, he began to cackle maniacally at the thought of how unprepared his enemy was for the upcoming attack upon his supposedly safe head. "Truly, I am a genius," he exclaimed (_though whether he was consciously aware of the fact that he was speaking what he was thinking could still be debated_), "the Dib and his annoying head of largeness thinks that he is so clever, coming up with ways of stopping me, Zim!" GIR, still sucking on his frozen confection managed to put in his two cents (_for indeed, that's all he had_) with a noncommittal "Mhmm."

Completely ignoring anything his minion might have said, Zim continued. "But even he, with all his annoying _Dibness_ would never suspect what is about to happen to him!" GIR again chimed in, exclaiming "Doh, you're so smart!" Again, Zim continued on as if his robotic sidekick had never said a word. "For he has underestimated me and my superior brain meats; he would have never thought that I, Zim, would launch such a devastating attack upon him when he is most vulnerable!" With only a few meters remaining between the two and their objective, Zim let loose another bout of laughter and bellowed out, "Prepare yourself, _Dib_; prepare yourself for your DOOM!" Quickly turning to his SIR unit, he cried out, "Now, GIR – release the monkey!" GIR, for his part, managed to take the Suck-Monkey out of his mouth long enough to chirp, "Okie-dokie!" before opening up his chest compartment long enough to grab the now extremely livid monkey and hurl it towards the gargantuan headed boy's window, shattering it and causing all sorts of racket!

Satisfied with a job well done, Zim let loose a final round of bellicose laughter before abruptly turning about and goose-stepping towards the direction of the cul-de-sac that he had taken residence within. "Ah," he preened, "another job well done; but could it have gone any other way?" this question was obviously rhetorical, as he immediately followed it up by screaming, "For I am _Zim_!" As an afterthought, he then snapped, "Come, GIR, let us return to base – the Tallest shall undoubtedly wish to hear all about my latest victory!" The subtle clink-clink-clinking of metal feet was enough to let him know that GIR was indeed following right behind him. Yes, it looked indeed to be a job well done – the Dib was undoubtedly feeling the horrible monkey-wrath raining down upon his ginormous head this very instant, and the Tallest would no doubt be proud of him once he told them everything he'd done.

These euphoric thoughts were immediately thereafter shattered by a horrible klaxon that seemed to be going off in his skull! And, in a way, it was; a priority vox-channel message was being received from his base of operations, which meant that something important was happening, and there was only one person at the base who could even send such a message. Activating his PAK, he responded to the message by barking, "This is Zim – report, Skoodge!" The panicked voice that responded, even with the slight tinning of static that accompanied it, was undoubtedly that of none other than (_Ex_) Invader Skoodge: Conqueror of Blorch. "Zim – it's me; listen – the atmospheric proximity alarm went off, and the computer says that something just entered the Earth's atmosphere, but that it's probably just space-debris." Zim nodded condescendingly, (though Skoodge was incapable of seeing it,) and flippantly drawled "Yes, yes – that's very interesting, Skoodge; keep up the good work." He was about to end the communication until Skoodge blurted out, "Wait, Zim – that's not all!"

Thoroughly uninterested, Zim managed a half-hearted "Mhmm.", before his portly sidekick continued. "Get this, when I asked for more information, it said something about being busy and that I should ask someone else." Zim's response of "Eh?" was the only indication that he, in fact, did not '_get it_', but if Skoodge ever picked up as much, he was prudent enough not to make anything of it and continued, "So I went and talked to Minimoose about it, and he says that his sensors are picking up an organic life-signature on whatever it is," Zim was beginning to grow tired of his subordinate's gibbering mouth-noises, and was about to say as much until Skoodge said something that piqued his interest; "and that its projected point of impact is roughly where our base is; Zim – it's going to _crash_ right into our _house_!" With a scream of horror, Zim started a mad dash towards the base, "No – not my base! Not my beautiful base!"

Back at said base, deep beneath the earth, in a dark room bathed in crimson hues of light, Invader Skoodge sat at the communications console, fidgeting in his seat while listening to his commander (_and the closest thing he had to a friend_) cry out in panic. Hovering slightly above and to his right was Minimoose, whose vacant stare and insipid grin belied his nature as the ultimate super weapon. Turning to the purple moose-thing, the intrepid Irken asked "How much time until impact, Minimoose?" "_Myee_!" came the succinct reply. Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, Skoodge quickly turned back to the coms-board and, pressing the relay switch, reported in as even a voice as he could manage (_given the circumstances_) "Zim, Minimoose says that we've got roughly two minutes until impact!" The screaming on the other end seemed only to intensify at this newfound knowledge. Wiping the sweat that was quickly accumulating from his brow, Skoodge asked the only thing he could think of - "Zim, what do we _do_?"

It was this very question that made Zim (_who was at this time running towards the base as fast as his little legs could carry him, screaming at the top of his lungs and generally looking to all the world like a nutcase_) stop and think. Biting his lip in concentration, his eyes began to shift left, right, up and down as his PAK processed all available options to him. After a few seconds of silence, Zim responded with the only thing he could think of, saying, "Ready the Voot-cruiser, I'll be there shortly." Ignoring his subordinates affirmation, Zim quickly wheeled around and shouted, "GIR!" and seemingly from nowhere, said SIR unit fell face first into the pavement from above. Looking up at his overlord with ruddy glowing eyes and a stern expression, he replied, "Sir!" Pleased for once to see his minion being responsive, Zim gave the order, "GIR, take us home, _now_!" Quickly standing up, the insane little robot gave a rigid salute and barked out "Yes my master!" before quickly reverting to a vapid, cyan filled gaze.

With an inane giggle he quickly grabbed his master, activated his thrusters, and took off like a rocket into the horizon, towards home, and more importantly, towards his secret stash of burritos he kept under the floorboard. Zim's surprised screams of terror were so loud as to cause a certain paranormal investigator to halt mid stride and look over his shoulder. "What was that?" asked Dib. '_If I didn't know any better, I'd say that sounded like…_' Quickly shaking his enormous head, he rebuked himself of such an insane notion and exclaimed "Gah, stop it, I don't have time for this – I have to go and stop Zim before he does… whatever it is he's doing; the fate of all mankind depends upon me - and I'm talking to myself again!" As he dashed once more towards the lair of the alien menace, he thought to himself, '_Man… I've really gotta stop doing that._'

As it happened, GIR managed to make excellent time, though it was of little consolation for Zim's frazzled nerves. Somewhere along the way, he'd managed to lose a contact, and his wig was askew and full of leaves and twigs and… _was that a bird_? Quickly removing the ruined headpiece and pocketing the remaining contact, he turned and headed towards the front door, just in time to meet up with Skoodge, who had been running towards him, followed closely behind by Minimoose, both of them looked frantic. Before he could demand a status report, Skoodge cried out, "Zim – Zim – I got the Voot ready, but Minimoose says that whatever's heading our way is picking up speed; we don't have much time!" The desperate "_Myeeh_!" made by Minimoose caused all of them to stop and slowly turn around. The sight that met them was truly horrifying!

From low over the horizon, a massive ball of flame, bright enough to cast a noon-time glow across an evening sky, roared over treetop and building alike, melting both in an actinic flare of fury as it made its implacable way towards the four of them! At first, the sight was mesmerizing, truly a wondrous display of destructive might… that is until it hit the ground three-hundred meters out and bounced a couple of times before plowing a deep furrow of liquefied asphalt, powdered concrete, and ceramic rubble straight at them – then it became terrifying; a horrifying vision of destruction and pain! Instantly, all four of them held on to one another in fear, crying out at the top of their lungs and generally just standing there like morons waiting to get crushed under the mighty tide of earth and debris. Strangely enough, the object heading towards them began to slow down; one-hundred meters out, then fifty meters, then thirty.

And all the while, Zim, Skoodge, Minimoose and GIR cleaved to one another in mortal peril, screaming in fear and insanity as the engine of their demise came ever closer! Twenty meters out, then ten meters, then five! And then, a mere two meters distance from our '_heroes_', the object slowed to a stop, leaving a trail of smoke and dust in its wake. Even then, the screaming continued, only dying down as the dust finally settled. Then there was silence. No birds chirping, not dogs barking, no cars rumbling or people talking. The only noise to be heard was the hiss of rapidly cooling blacktop, the occasional pattering of dirt and rubble, and the uncanny popping and hissing of superheated metal cooling with the breeze. Slowly releasing one another from their impromptu hug of demise, and clearing their throats from the awkwardness of it all, the first to break the silence was, as ever, the impeccable Minimoose.

"_Nyah_?" this of course was an excellent question, to which Zim replied, "I don't know… I was sort of expecting something to blow up, you know?" Then Skoodge voiced a question that was on all of their minds (_or at least his, Zim's, and Minimoose's_), "What _is_ it?" As if to answer his inquiry, the mound of earth and debris that had covered the object fell away to reveal – "A ship?" cried Zim. No, not a ship, an escape pod, and one that was eerily familiar to - "Hey!" his line of thought was shattered by a voice he loathed more than any other in the universe; _Dib_. And indeed it was Dib, self-proclaimed savior of humanity, who was jogging towards them, with one arm holding his side and the other seemingly outstretched to grab onto something that wasn't there.

Turning their heads to meet him, they watch as he trundled up to within an arm's reach of them before stooping over, looking to all the world like he just ran a marathon. Placing a hand on his knee, and raising the other to point an accusatory finger at them, he managed to wheeze, "What– *_huff_* – whatever – *_puff_* – it is that – *_pant_* – that you're up to, – *_wheeze_* – I – *_cough_* – _whew, hang on_…" Stooping further down, he began to take a series of large, deep breathes; Zim was genuinely surprised that the boy managed not to topple forward, for having such a massive cranium. Finally getting enough oxygen to talk again, he continued, "I'm gonna put a stop to it!" The incredulous stares and raised non-existent eyebrows that met him gave him pause to try and take in the whole scene, and to buy time he asked, "What exactly _are_ you up to any - _Oh Wow_!" It was at that very moment that he finally registered the trail of destruction leading up to his arch-nemesis' house, and the rather obvious looking space ship that said nemesis and his lackeys had been staring at.

Before any more could be said from either party, the escape pod began to release a distinctive whining hum; various jets of steam began spouting off at multiple points across the hull, and the locking mechanisms that held the canopy in place began to slowly unfasten. Instantly, all attention returned to the pod. Skoodge, and GIR simultaneously placed themselves behind Zim, peeking out from either side of him, whilst Minimoose hovered closely above them all. Dib, who himself had been fumbling around for a camera, gave up looking for it and gave his rapt attention to extraterrestrial happenings going on in front of him. All eyes were wide in anticipation, waiting for whatever was going on to make itself ultimately known.

With a sharp hiss, and a resounding clang, the locking mechanisms finally released, and a bout of pressurized air clouded their vision, causing all those present to take a few nervous steps back. The resounding pop that followed indicated to those that understood it that the bubbled canopy screen had just been jettisoned, and that whatever or whoever was inside the craft would make themselves known. Slowly the air began to clear up, and a shadowy silhouette could be seen rising from the pod, whereupon it gracefully leapt from the wreckage and began sauntering its way towards Zim and his underlings. Finally, a robust, feminine voice cut through the atmosphere, startling them all, "It's been a while, _Zim_." '_That voice!_' thought Zim, who, with a growing sense of unease, briefly looked at Dib. Said boy was also looking at him with a face that mirrored the same thought! The cold grip of familiarity that was beginning to take hold in their cores only solidified into the icy thrall of recognition as the air finally cleared and the form of a very familiar female Irken took shape before their eyes!

With a cold, calculating smirk, offset by a flash of mischief behind her amethyst eyes, she stood tall, and with an air of superiority tinged with nonchalance emanating from her she asked, "Did you _miss_ me?" The spell was thus broken, and the name unbidden upon their tongues sprang forth with renewed strength, released upon the unsuspecting world in an upwelling surge of memory and emotion –

"_TAK_?!"

* * *

_Well, there it is. My goodness it's been a long way coming. I can only hope it doesn't take nearly as long to make the final chapter._

_God Bless all of you, and thank you for your support._


	3. Partners

_Honestly, I don't know what to think of this. It took me three years to make a second chapter, and only a week to make the third... Such inconsistency...__  
_

_No matter - I have completed this chapter and I am quite fond of it. Once again, we will find ourselves viewing things more from Tak's perspective, such as we did in the first chapter, and we will begin to see some of the more psychological aspects of the characters as well. What may at first appear to be out of character moments will, with further supposition, make a great deal more sense when taken as a whole within both the series and this story itself. I have tried to define the essence of Zim as I have found him to be through my character studies (and with a personal understanding in psycho-semantic disorders.) I have portrayed my understanding of Zim through the eyes of Tak in this chapter, and in a way, it is for these very reasons that Zim has always been my favorite character._

_But all of this talk is boring, so now I digress. Here is the third chapter, which I sincerely hope you like._

* * *

"Absolutely not!" cried Zim, who was beyond furious at this point. '_I cannot believe_ _the gall of that… that female – ugh_!' Nor could he believe the fact that these _morons_ were buying into it all! The rotund little Irken to his right, however, insisted on playing the Devil's advocate by replying, "But Zim, think of it from a strategic point of view – we're trying to conquer this planet, and the extra help could be vital in securing ultimate victory." Rearing back as if he'd been physically struck, a look of pure affronted shock materialized on Zim's face. The acid in his voice was caustic as he retorted, "I don't _trust_ her." Raising his arms in a placating manner, Skoodge conciliatorily replied, "I don't trust her either, Zim – but that doesn't mean we should let such an opportunity to advance _our_ cause go to waste!" Zim once more fell back on the one point he consistently made during the entire debate, "She tried to steal Zim's mission once, and she obviously wishes to try and steal it again; it's the only reason she'd _ever _come back here!" "_Myeh_!" injected Minimoose, and this was an extremely valid point. "What is _wrong_ with all of you?" Zim practically screamed, "Am I the only one who remembers just how truly horrible she is?"

"_Mhee_?" the frown that crossed the mutant moose-thing's face seemed to drive the question further home, encouraging Skoodge to chime in, saying, "At least give her a chance – if at any time we feel that she's about to double-cross us, we could… I don't know…" He suddenly found his feet very interesting to look at (_anything to avoid the positively vitriolic look Zim was giving him.)_ "Nyeeh?" came Minimoose's helpful suggestion. Skoodge vigorously nodded his head in agreement, "That could work – we could do that if she tried anything funny!" then, turning back to Zim, he implored, "C'mon, Zim, we've been arguing on this for hours, and I'm getting hungry – can't you just give her _one_ chance?" This brought Zim to pause in thought. Skoodge was right – they had indeed been at this for hours, and it _had_ been a while since he himself had last had a snack… '_I must have the brain-worms to even be considering this_!" Giving an enraged huff, the weight of hunger seemed to outweigh the sting of memories past, as Zim finally conceded, "Very well, I will accept her offer, but if I so much as even _suspect_ that she is up to no good, I'll personally strap a rabid weasel to her face and launch her back into deep space – and then I'll do the same to you, because this was _your_ idea, not _mine_."

"Technically, it was _her _idea, so -" the dark glare thrown his way caused the corpulent conqueror to audibly gulp, "I'm shutting up now." Considering the matter done, Zim quickly turned around, only to come face to face with none other than the very being they had been discussing – Tak. The deadpanned look she gave him seemed to completely go over his head as he immediately straightened up and exclaimed, "Ah… Tak; just the stink-beast I was looking for." The slight raise of an eyebrow was the only indication she gave as to what she thought of that. "The almighty Zim has decided, after careful deliberation with his underlings, to accept your offer of help in our mission to conquer this filthy ball of horrible horribleness." With a slow nod of her head, Tak finally spoke, "I'm happy to hear that, Zim." Tilting her head slightly, she seemed to come to some sort of decision, before turning around and heading for the kitchen. Calling over her shoulder, she exclaimed, "If you need me for anything, I'll be down in the lab."

With a smirk, she continued towards the oddly placed toilet, '_Three…. Two… One…_' Zim's shrill cry of, "Wait just a minute!" came as no surprise to Tak; her smirk blossoming into a full-blown, diabolical smile as she coyly asked, "Is there a problem, Zim?" The shorter of the two Irkens swiftly ran to catch up with her, annoyance and suspicion seemingly radiating off of him as he quickly grabbed her arm and span her around to face him. Pushing his face into her personal bubble, he hissed, "_Do you think that Zim would be so _stupid_ as to let the Tak-beast use his lab without question_?" Looking down her nonexistent nose at him as if he were at most a minor inconvenience, Tak calmly removed his hand from her arm and brazenly replied, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," then, giving a capricious grin, she continued, "but if you really don't trust me, then I guess you'll just have to come and make sure I don't try and sabotage your base."

Looking past Zim, she then added, "Unless you wish to have Skoodge keep an eye on me, I'm sure we'll have _lots_ of _fun_." Looking over his shoulder at the Irken in question, Zim rolled his eyes at how pale Skoodge had suddenly become; how his mouth began to quiver, and how his legs began to shake. Skoodge, for his part, could easily envision what the sadistic female's idea of _fun_ entailed, and was in no way, shape or form inclined to take up her offer. Casting his baleful gaze towards his commander, he could only hope that Zim wouldn't agree to her proposal – he _liked_ living. Taking note of Skoodge's condition, Zim decided to take pity on his friend before turning back to Tak and sharply retorting, "No, I think I'll accompany you to the lab myself; unlike _you_, Skoodge is actually fairly useful – it would be extremely… not-good if you broke him." Quirking her brow, she flippantly responded by saying, "Suit yourself." Sweeping her arms in a grandiose gesture of mockery she quipped, "After you." Responding with equal contempt, Zim use an old Earth saying he happened to have seen being used in such a situation – "Ladies first." Giving a shrug, Tak turned once more to the toilet, Zim following in her wake.

While it had been a tight (_and extremely awkward_) fit, they managed to access the toilet and were already making their way into the bowels of the facility. The cylindrical tube was cramped, and allowed very little leeway with which to move; Zim continued to hiss and grumble to himself as the platform continued its steady plunge into the earth. Tak's insufferable smirk seemed to only worsen his mood. All the while, the elevator moved on – passing the otherworldly glow of external illuminators as they pierced the darkness, only to vanish as quickly as they appeared. The internal lighting, a harsh grey glow, would often flicker and die at random intervals, only to reignite with a halogen-like hum. The air was thick, and the heat was subtly rising as they made their way further down. And through the haze of it all – the transition from light to darkness to light again, the thrumming drone, the lull of compressing atmosphere and the subtle raise in temperature – Zim closed his eyes for a mere fraction of a second.

That was all the time Tak needed. Swiftly turning upon the little Irken that had been plaguing her thoughts for some time now, the tall female snatched him by the front of his uniform and slammed him against the translucent wall that enclosed their descent. Releasing a squeak of terrible discomfort at the physical altercation he suddenly found himself in, Zim began to thrash about, clawing fiercely at the arms that restrained him. "What is the meaning of this?" he shouted, "Put me down, now, Tak!" For the briefest of seconds, he found himself relieved as she seemingly complied by pulling him away from the wall – only to be slammed into it once more! Through it all, Tak retained a malicious grin – one that only seemed to grow in intensity the more he struggled. '_Look at you, Zim,_' she thought, '_so small, so weak, so… short_.' Narrowing her eyes, she leaned in towards his face, angling herself in such a way as to emphasize her superior height over him, one more factor that should have absolutely _ensured_ her victory over him in their last encounter, yet somehow failed all the same. The horrible knot in her sqeedilyspooch reappeared as her anger and resentment began to rise.

'_And here you are, at my mercy._' Pushing him further against the glass, her face a mere breathe apart from his own, she couldn't help but appreciate the way he struggled and squirmed within her grasp. '_I could _break_ you right now._' And at that thought, she placed one of her hands around his throat and began to squeeze. Yes, that's what she'd do – she'd end it, here and now, with no one to get in her way; she would finally prove that it was _she_ who was superior, _she_ who held ultimate victory over _him_. And as she applied further pressure to his neck, she wanted to see that fear he held for her, that final vindication she so desperately wanted. But all she found was a defiant glare adorning his features – an aura of unconquerable determination mixed with the inability to even contemplate defeat! Her eyes widened only a fraction at the revelation and along with the knot in her guts there once more sprung forth that strange, indescribable _feeling_ that had been plaguing her more and more as time went by. This was the reason, she finally realized, that she lost to him; he couldn't be beaten because he had no understanding of what defeat was. She could break every bone in his body a thousand times over, and yet he would undoubtedly demand that she surrender because he could not be defeated. He was so incredibly _stupid_ that there was no other option _but _victory!

It was his defective nature that made him so… _strong _wasn't the proper word, not in the sense of what she understood his strength to be. No, his defectiveness was what allowed him to be so flexible yet unyielding in his quest for conquest! He was not an Invader. He was an unstoppable force for destruction and chaos, something that could never truly be contained, or put down. This was what made him _dangerous -_ why their people _loathed _him, why their leaders _hated _him, and most of all – why the control brains _feared _him! At this watershed realization Tak's manic grin fell away, replaced with a pensive frown as she thought, '_Yes, I could break you... But I won't._' Slowly, she released his throat – his ragged gasps for air were only broken by the occasional spluttering cough – as she tilted her head to observe him further. She had yet to fully release him though, and if anything, she seemed to have subconsciously pressed herself closer to him (_a point of fact that only seemed to further consternate him as he struggled more desperately to get out of her horrible clutches._)

Her smile was suddenly back, but instead being devious or demented, it was a cunning, thoughtful grin – one that seemingly entailed a strategy in the works, and it _terrified_ him! '_No, I won't destroy you…,_' she devised, '_not with such potential in you – I can use you, mold you into something that the Empire would be proud of, and then I will bend you to my whims until you can bend no further…_'It seemed that Zim had seemingly managed to finally catch his breath, because he immediately began shouting at her again; "Tak, as your _leader_, I _order _you to let me down _now_, or I will unleash my doom upon your vile head!" The lanky female's grin took on a nastier aspect as she once more thought to herself, '_And then I will possess you as my own_.' Wait a minute – what was that last part? Did she actually just think that? Her eyes widened in horror at the overt implication of such a notion, and with a disgusted sneer she dropped the annoying little Irken in a heap on the floor. With a chime, the door of the capsule opened – they had finally arrived at their destination.

Quickly picking himself up, Zim growled, "Tak if you thin-" Tak stridently interrupted, "I'm not one of your slaves, Zim, I'm your new partner, and I fully intend to help you take over this miserable ball of dirt, but in order for that to happen, you need to listen to what I say." Quickly catching up to her and casting a sidelong glare at her, he retorted, "And what makes you think that Zim would even listen to the Tak-beast?" Turning promptly towards him, she proclaimed, "_Because_, I have something that will make you unstoppable." At this, she procured something from her PAK, at which Zim's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates, such was his surprise! Quickly straightening himself, he looked Tak in the eye and casually replied, "Zim is listening."

* * *

Well, there you have it. I hope it was to your liking, and if not, please inform me of what you did not like, and I'll see what I can do about it... Unless it's something stupid, and then you should be ashamed of yourself for being a terrible person. Thank you for your time.


End file.
